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shinameii · 3 months ago

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The Princess Bride AU (part 1 of 2)

jade leech x gn!reader

tags/warnings: jade x reader (romantic), gn!reader, sfw, mentions of death and grief, brief mention of suicide, kidnapping (NOT in a yandere way), angst/comfort

a/n: i'm uploading this first part now because i'm too impatient to wait until i'm done 😭 also this is my first fic ever so it's not great but i should get better with practice :) i hope you can enjoy regardless!

(shitty quality aside, DO NOT FEED THIS TO AI or i will hunt you down and curse you and everyone you love)

word count: 7.2k

Climbing a mountain is not one of your regular tasks as a farmer.

Life’s just been so boring lately—not that you’re complaining; 'bored' is leagues better than broke and starved—but you’ve been thirsting for a little more enrichment than feeding livestock and mucking stables can offer. So naturally, when you went into town a few days ago to sell your produce, you scanned Sam’s shop for anything that could spice up your life.

Funny-looking dolls, uniquely flavoured snacks, eye-catching accessories… Sam has always had such interesting items in stock, but you couldn’t imagine being amused with any of them for more than a couple days, a week at most. You hummed to yourself before clearing your throat.

“Hey, Sam?” you peek around the packed shelves and racks for him to pop out from beneath the front counter like a life-sized jack-in-the-box.

“Find anything that piques your interest, Imp?” he asks back while glancing at you, simultaneously working on pricing some new trinkets that came in.

“Well…” You hate to admit your dissatisfaction so bluntly, but Sam’s a thick-skinned pal of yours; he can take it. “Not this time, actually. Do you have anything new?”

And of course Sam had something new in stock—something perfect. You never should’ve doubted him. So that day, you left town with a pocketful of bronze coins, a skip in your step, and in your hand, a small pocketbook that you’d traded for two dozen eggs.

A Guide to Identifying and Foraging Wild Edible Mushrooms: Pocket Edition.

So here you are, hiking up the mountain by your farm that you never once explored in all your years living here. To be fair, you never really had much of a reason to, until now. Now, you have a wealth of information on edible and medicinal wonders of nature in the palm of your hand. Now, you’re aware of the wondrous, meaty-yet-not-meat chunks of yumminess within your reach.

You gasp as a strange growth catches your eye. Literally. Within. Your. Reach! After verifying with your prized pocket guide, you pluck the layered white fungus from the side of a fallen log. Pleurotus ostreatus: the oyster mushroom. You have yourself an oyster mushroom, and now the world is your oyster.

In your mushroom-finding excitement, you fail to notice the heterochromatic eyes witnessing your joyous discovery from a clearing in the woods.

Over the next week, you balance out the mundaneness of farm life with the joy of mushroom foraging. So far, you’ve harvested resinous polypore—Ischnoderma resinosum—and lion’s mane—Hericium erinaceus—on top of the oyster mushrooms you’d initially found. How thrilling!

But still, despite your newfound source of joy, you can’t help but wish you didn’t have to work so much on the farm. As you savour a bite of your breakfast omelette made with leftover lion’s mane mushrooms, you dare think to yourself: Sevens, you wished you could have a helping hand. Then you would only have to work half as much, and you’d have twice as much time to go look for mushrooms.

You turn your gaze beyond your open dutch door to the rich mountain nearby.

And then a demon pops out of fucking nowhere to block the view.

You shriek before quickly clapping a hand over your mouth. Oh, you realize. It’s not a demon. It's just a freakishly tall, hot guy trespassing on your farm. Dressed in a tattered linen tunic and breeches, his ratty clothing doesn’t seem to suit him. With hair the vivid colour of the clear sea, striking heterochromatic eyes, and a razor-sharp jawline, you can’t fathom what he’s doing here. Nor can you imagine why he’s dressed like he’d been washed up ashore. The only accessory that does suit his beauty is the teal earring dangling from his left ear.

“Hello,” the beautiful-demon-slash-trespasser-man greets politely.

“Hi,” you reply awkwardly. “Can I help you?”

“Why, yes,” he replies, smiling without teeth as he brings his hand to his chest. “I would like to help you on your farm.”

You hum to hide your surprise. Not because his request is startling, though it is very bold, especially for only just having met each other. You’re instead shocked by how quickly your wish seemed to be answered. Maybe he is a demon. But you’ll nevertheless entertain his haphazard proposal.

“Hmm. What’s your name?” you ask.

“Ah, of course. My name is Jade,” he answers, timbre smoother than butter. “My apologies for neglecting to introduce myself sooner.”

You give him your name in return. Jade smiles again. It’s almost unsettling.

“Farm work is pretty demanding, Jade. And I can’t give you much more than food and lodging in return. Are you sure you’re still up to it?”

“Yes.”

You rack your brain for any more upfront reasons that would dissuade Jade from working for you.

“And in terms of food…” you start, “you’re alright eating mushrooms?”

Jade stares at you, eyes wide. A soft pink blush colours his cheeks.

“You’d feed me your mushrooms?” he whispers.

So he’s not a fan. Disappointing.

“Breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” you press on regardless. “Not by themselves, of cour—“

“When may I start?” Jade cuts you off.

Your brain shuts down. “Wha?”

“Working here, for you. When may I start?”

Succinctly put, Jade isn’t a demon. In fact, you’d go as far to say that Jade is an angel. A gentlemanly, mushroom-loving angel. Two months in, he does more than his fair share of work on the farm and eats whatever you cook. Often, despite already having laboured in the burning hot sun, doing the heavy lifting that he insisted you shouldn’t do, Jade even helps you in the kitchen.

Like he is now. Actually, this time, he’s doing most of the cooking as you wash the dishes and cooking utensils.

A few weeks ago, Jade practically begged you to bring him on one of your hikes. If it was anybody else who asked, you wouldn’t have agreed. But you had to admit: you’re fond of Jade.

From your countless conversations, you learned that Jade lost both his parents to vicious pirates when they were at sea, leaving behind Jade and his brother, Floyd. Jade also told you that he has a silly friend named Azul. The way Jade reminisces about Floyd and Azul is endearing (and also makes the latter seem so pathetic it’s funny), and you can tell he really loves them since he’d left his home to make a better life for the three.

Despite his rough past, he’s perfect. Hardworking, strong, smart, observant, dependable, beautiful, sweet… You could list hundreds if not thousands of things you love about him. The hard part is keeping the praises from spewing out your mouth every time he’s near.

Jade always does as you wish when you ask. But your one deepest wish is selfish, something you can’t ask of him.

You wish he’d never leave your side.

“Dinner’s ready,” Jade gently announces to you, disrupting your internal pining monologue. You can see his closed-eye smile directed at you from the corner of your eye, and you feel your heartbeat quicken.

You grab two bowls from the cupboard and pass them to Jade’s waiting hands. His fingers brush yours in the process, and you have to stop yourself from flinching away. Hold yourself together! Don’t be suspicious! Stop being a pathetic sap!

“Oya, you’re quite red.” Stupid traitorous blush. “Are you feeling unwell?”

Jade reaches his right hand toward your forehead, which you quickly bat away.

“Am I? I feel fine,” you assure, hoping you sound natural enough. You feel your face warm even more.

“Are you sure?” Jade scrutinizes your flushed face, mere inches between you. “You really are quite red.”

Now, as sweet as he is, Jade loves teasing. Even though he doesn’t like you back—not that he knows of your crush on him—he still plays with you. And your poor heart by association.

Huffing, you stubbornly turn away from Jade like a cranky little kid, but the bastard follows your face with his own as you pivot.

“Fufufu,” he chuckles, “you really are quite adorable, aren’t you?”

Your eyes bulge before you instinctively shield your probably-tomato-red face with your hand.

“Oh,” Jade sighs with a smile, retreating to his personal bubble of space, “how I wish to never leave your side.”

To your surprise and horror, his words promptly open the floodgates to your tears, your endless praises for him, and a confession of your undying love. In response, Jade smiles at you, wider than you’ve ever seen, eyes half-lidded and full of fondness. He’s so beautiful.

Long story short, you did not manage to ‘hold yourself together’. But your darling farm boy loves you anyway.

Seasons pass, and you and Jade become practically inseparable. You can barely remember what your life was like before he stumbled into it.

When the sun rises, you wake together and get to work on the farm, and when the sun sets, he cooks dinner as you wash the dishes. You love dinnertime. Not just the end product—Jade truly is a magician in the kitchen after all—but the coziness of it. The domesticity.

Tonight, Jade’s making mushroom risotto, his signature dish. You have no dishes to wash at the moment, so you take a moment to relax and admire Jade as he chops the mushrooms.

You can imagine spending the rest of your life by his side. Maybe you’ll start a family together. Or maybe you’ll sell the farm and travel the world together. Who knows. What you do know though, without a doubt, is that Jade is your future.

You’re snapped out of your daydreaming by the knife clattering against the counter and Jade’s sharp gasp, and your body rushes to Jade before your brain can even catch up.

“Jade?” You grasp his clenched hand in yours and inspect it in a panic. “What happened? Did you cut yourself? You never cut yourself!”

“Ah… I must’ve gotten distracted,” he replies sheepishly.

“Hold on, let me get some bandages—“ You let go of Jade’s hand to grab the first aid kit in the cabinet, and cradle his hand back in yours just as quickly. “Can you open your hand for me? Does it hurt too much?”

As you gaze back up at Jade’s mismatched eyes, he just… smiles. Confused, you furrow your eyebrows and return your attention to his left hand, gently prying it open. You slowly pull back his fingers to reveal something shiny.

A ring.

Shaped as an eel wrapped around a dainty pearl, you’ve never seen a piece of jewellery more beautiful.

“Jade…?” you start hesitantly.

He doesn’t reply. He gets down on one knee and bares his heart to you.

You should’ve been more patient.

You’ve never been one to rush. Not when you were still living alone; not after Jade had burst into your life.

Except this once. And you wish more than anything that you had taken your time.

You didn't have enough money to get married, not for a long while. But Jade refused to let you toil away and scrimp and save for years just to get married.

"You deserve to be treated like royalty, my pearl," he'd tell you.

So he'd set sail for a richer nation across the sea, to the kingdom of Scarabia, to bring back enough money to properly start your life together.

You should have accompanied him. Even though he was firm on going alone, on you staying to run the farm.

You should've refused.

You should've gone with him.

You shouldn't have let him go.

Why did you let him go?

You wouldn't have needed a fortune to be happy. You wouldn’t need to be treated like royalty. All you needed was Jade.

Your time apart was only supposed to be a few months long, a couple years at absolute most.

It was supposed to be.

Two years apart sounded like a long time to you then. But you know now that two years is nothing compared to an eternity. You’d heard the news when you were making your runs around town. It was two months after you’d said your goodbyes and watched Jade board that cursed ship. The Mostro.

Mostro—the name that circulated around town in murmurs.

Mostro—the name of the ship that Jade had boarded two months prior.

Mostro—the name of the ship that had been attacked by a sea serpent, leaving no survivors.

Mostro—the name painted on the shipwrecked wooden parts recovered by the Scarabian navy.

Fate is too cruel. Against all odds, you had found your one true love, and you gave your whole heart to him, just for him to end up at the bottom of the sea.

You died with him that day.

Today would have been the fifth anniversary of Jade popping up on your farm.

You try not to think about that. You try not to think at all. Thinking leads to feeling, which leads to crying. You’ve been down that rabbit hole enough times to know that it doesn’t fix anything. It can’t bring him back.

Nature doesn’t care about your feelings though, and so the weather today is exactly like the day you met Jade for the first time. You find yourself staring out the dutch door, and for a short moment, you live in the past. Deep down, you expect Jade to pop out, just like he had that fateful day.

But you know that’s impossible. You rip your gaze away from the landscape.

Your gaze is pulled right back when you hear a loud rapping at the door. There’s someone there.

Sometwo, actually. Two men: one with long, shiny black hair, dressed in luxurious silks; the other with short white hair, even fancier silks, and a massive, brilliantly innocent smile.

“Hiya!” calls out the latter. “You must be the farmer we’ve heard so much about!”

“Your Highness, you could stand to be more polite…” the other chastises.

Wait. ‘Your Highness’…?

“Ahaha! My bad,” the prince(?) chirps, “I’m Kalim, and this is Jamil. We’re from Scarabia!”

You could’ve guessed that last part; their attire did look foreign. But you’re still lost, to put it lightly.

Jamil seems to pick up on your confusion. “His Royal Highness Prince Kalim Al-Asim is the crown prince of Scarabia,” he confirms, “and I am his aide.”

Uh. The crown prince of Scarabia?! One of the richest kingdoms in the world? What on earth does he want from you? A million questions rush through your mind.

“Nice to meet you… your Highness,” you say instead, bowing slightly, unfamiliar with how to greet royalty.

“Oh, no need to be formal! Just call me Kalim!” he laughs. “I’m here to find a spouse!”

You hesitate in confusion. “Uh… on this little island?” you ask, baffled. “You crossed the sea to come to Ramshackle Island?”

“Yeah!” Kalim answers cheerfully, ignoring your incredulity. “I’ve always wanted to find a diamond in the rough, and I’ve finally found it!”

You nearly scoff at his naïveté. “Congratulations. Was there something I could help you with?”

“You’re the diamond I’ve been looking for. I’m here to bring you to Scarabia to get married!” Kalim states casually, his brilliant smile unwavering. “All the townspeople said you were the humblest, nicest, most hardworking person on the island.”

“Wait, wha—ME?!” you stammer. “I’m engaged!”

You freeze. You didn’t mean for that last part to come out. Your eyes snap to the ring on your left hand, which you never took off—could never take off—and it still doesn’t feel right to say that you weren’t taken.

“Ehh?! The townspeople never mentioned that!” Kalim practically shouts, appearing almost offended on your behalf.

“Well, you didn’t mention you were planning on marriage,” Jamil quietly interjects.

“Is your fiancé around here? I’m so sorry!”

But… you aren’t engaged. Not when you don’t actually have a fiancé anymore. You realize you’ve taken too long to respond when Kalim’s look of shock morphs into one of anticipation and confusion.

“No,” you start quietly, “sorry. I mean… My fiancé… He's not… Uhm. A sea serpent…” You gesture vaguely, hoping they get the gist.

“My condolences,” Jamil catches on quickly, turning to Kalim. “Your Highness, l think we should look elsewhere for your ‘diamond in the rough’.”

“Aww, but they’re so nice! It’s too bad…” Kalim rambles. A bit insensitive, but filthy rich princes have that luxury, you suppose. As he and Jamil leave, you hear Kalim’s cheery voice ring out: “Hey, Jamil, maybe on our way back, we can catch that sea serpent!”

You freeze. Catch the sea serpent… Your hands tense at the idea of vengeance. Kalim certainly has the resources to make it happen. It wouldn’t bring Jade back, you know that. But that snake took him away from you, and you can’t find it in yourself to let it go. You need closure.

With nothing to lose, you fling open your door.

“Wait!” you call after the Scarabians. “Please bring me with you!”

“Sure!” Kalim replies instantly.

Jamil sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, Prince Kalim. We can’t bring a random stranger aboard, not when your mission is to find a spouse.”

“I’ll marry you then,” you blurt desperately. “But on the condition that you help me catch the sea serpent.”

Naturally, Kalim—simple man that he is—beams. “Okay! Sounds good!”

Jamil just sighs.

Surprisingly, there’s practically no fuss over the fact that Kalim is marrying you, a lowly peasant. His judgement is taken at face value; his choice of partner isn’t questioned.

You’d told Kalim very early on that you wouldn’t be able to love him. There’s a Jade-shaped hole in your heart and Kalim can’t fill it, not even with his endless energy and blinding smiles and life-changing wealth.

He’d told you it was no problem, that he enjoys your company as a friend.

What does he think a marriage entails?! Pure friendship? “Diamond-in-the-rough-ness”? You couldn’t wrap your mind around Kalim’s seemingly empty one, but you do appreciate the acceptance nevertheless.

Immediately upon your arrival in Scarabia, you’re overwhelmed by the fanfare and the richness of it all, though you should’ve expected it after seeing the gigantic royal ship.

So this is where Jade would’ve been if things had gone the way they were supposed to.

You’re yanked out of your thoughts by Kalim literally tugging you along to publicly introduce you as his betrothed.

As beautiful as the kingdom is, you can’t enjoy the full experience since you’re always chaperoned. Jamil had warned you—after you left for Scarabia, which was a bit late in your opinion—that being affianced to a member of the royal family would put a target on your back. Seeing as you haven’t experienced anything weird, you don’t doubt that Jamil was exaggerating to scare you a little.

You attend your etiquette lessons as required, and practise combat when you’re allowed. You get a little bit of resistance on the latter, but until you get your hands on that snake, you need the outlet; the bloodthirst is eating you from the inside out. You use the reasonable excuse of wanting to defend yourself against attackers and kidnappers, which always does the trick.

Especially after you experience your first attempted kidnapping.

Maybe Jamil wasn’t exaggerating, after all. You wonder how large your ransom would be.

Ideally, for Kalim, you’d be married already. But you refuse to resign yourself to the loveless marriage until your sole condition is met.

And so today, you set out to capture the wretched sea serpent, along with a skilled crew of sea monster hunters and sailors, while Kalim and Jamil stay back in Scarabia to plan the wedding.

What you didn’t expect was that you’d be forced to wear exclusively fancy clothes, even when away from Kalim. You’re practically primed to sit pretty while the experts do their thing, and while that seems reasonable enough, you’d still rather not be dressed so pompously. Especially in the middle of the sea, away from the eyes of the public. But alas, as a future royal, you’re doomed to flaunt yourself like a peacock: your requests for “simple clothes” only returned voluminous layered silks. At least the vivid colours suit your complexion.

The only non-negotiable part of your attire is the ring that Jade had given you so long ago, worn now as a necklace, resting just over your heart. One servant had tried to remove it once, and you’d slapped the poor soul’s hands away so quickly that one would assume your life force was contained in the jewellery. It is, of course, but what matters is that nobody ever tried to touch the ring again.

Ever since you set sail three weeks ago, the sheer number of pirates you’ve come across almost has you thinking that this is a travelling pirate expo, not a sea monster hunt. Luckily though, no pirates managed to get the upper hand on your crew.

Well, managed, up to now. Past tense.

Because this particular pirate crew, composed of fewer than five people on a raggedy little boat, is built different somehow. Before your eyes now is the strangest and most terrifying scene you’ve ever witnessed in your life.

One unarmed man, his identity concealed by a mask over his eyes, is subduing all of your crewmates. With an approach perplexingly far from violent, he instead opts to chuck each of your crewmates into the sea, unharmed, like jetsam.

What’s even more alarming:

“Wee!” the masked man cheers as he heaves one of your guys overboard.

“Wahoo!” he whoops as he tosses the next.

“Cannonball!” he cheers, flipping your strongest and heaviest crewmate over the edge.

The masked man is having a blast with this, acting less like a bloodthirsty pirate and more like an excited kid in a toy store.

Despite his comportment however, he is in fact very intimidating, especially as he works his way through your crew, toward you. Like a shark, steadily following the scent of blood in the water, only there’s no blood, but money. With layers upon layers of expensive silks and jewellery hanging off your body, you have no doubt that you’re the one that all the pirates have been after.

You can barely hear past your heart pounding in your chest, and you find yourself fidgeting with the ring hanging from your neck. There’s no way you’ll be able to beat him with brute force; he overpowered your crew without even breaking a sweat. But you’d sooner die than go down without a fight, so when the man inevitably launches your last crewmate over the side of the ship, you brace yourself for combat.

“Ehhhh~” he drawls, and only now do you realize just how tall this man is. “So you’re the royal guppy that’s worth 22 million marks?”

22 million? Twenty-two million thaumarks! That’s how much you’ve become worth, just by being engaged—not even married—to Kalim. With 22 million marks, you would be set for life. Hell, for a hundred lives.

With 22 million marks, Jade never would’ve needed to leave.

You quickly snuff out that thought when the masked giant firmly seizes your arms, triggering your instinct to strike his weak points. More specifically, a kick to the balls. But as you attempt to lift your knee, you realize belatedly that your cumbersome silks are trapped beneath his foot, and you trip farther into his grasp.

You seriously hate fancy clothing.

“Ahahaha! You’re such a weak little shrimpy!” the 2-metre-tall asshole laughs, “This is gonna be the easiest money ever! Azul’s gonna be thrilled!”

‘Azul’? Your eyes snap up at the mention of that name. And you finally take a proper look at your captor-to-be’s face. Even with his mask, you can tell his face looks familiar.

How…?

“Who are you?” is the only thing you manage to say before he shoves a bottle into your mouth, forcing you to drink.

As you quickly lose consciousness, one thought bounces through your mind:

He looks like Jade.

When you wake, everything feels wrong.

It’s pitch-black: your captors must’ve thrown a sack over your head, but virtually no light penetrates the fabric from the outside either.

Barely any sound reaches your ears, and the few noises you do hear are strangely distorted.

Your wrists are bound around a pole, but you swear you can feel your silks floating away from your skin.

And you’re cold, but not like you’ve ever felt before. You’ve experienced harsh winters, you’ve felt cold winds flow through holes in your sweater, you’ve felt cold on your skin. But this particular cold is different: it completely envelopes your body as if you’re submerged in it.

You’re underwater. The one place where Kalim’s men likely won’t be able to find you. Your captors are smart, unfortunately.

“Are you finally awake?” an unfamiliar voice echoes through the dark. Obviously, you don’t respond, but he seems to know anyway. “We won’t hurt you, don’t worry. Well, as long as you cooperate with us, and your beloved prince pays us per our demands.”

A tiny scoff escapes your lips at ‘beloved prince’.

“Hmm? Is something funny?” the same voice asks haughtily.

“Oh, not at all,” you chuckle dryly. “But my ‘beloved prince’ will pay your price no problem.”

After a short pause, the man mutters pensively. "'No problem', huh? Perhaps I can negotiate a higher ransom..." You get the feeling this guy is just blabbing to hear his own voice.

"Hey, you know," you blurt, "I bet Kalim would pay you even if you weren't holding me hostage. But keep me here, and his men will hunt you down and shred you to pieces. Why don't you just let me go now?”

"Nice try. If you want to be free again, write a nice convincing letter to your prince begging him to pay your ransom—”

You groan. "I've got stuff to do, man..."

The man laughs at that, a sleazy rich man laugh. "Oh? And what other important ‘stuff' do you need to do?" You can imagine the guy eyeing your flashy outfit—fair enough. "Taste testing luxury delicacies? Having your diamonds polished to your liking? Ordering—"

"Gutting a damn sea serpent."

He goes silent at that. Then after a moment: “Shouldn’t you be afraid of being gutted yourself?” You can hear the awful smirk in his voice.

No. You’ve fantasized about prying open the serpent’s mouth to rip each of its teeth from its gums, one by one. You’ve dreamed of meeting it face to face, so that you could look it in the eye as you twist your knife into its heart. You’re not afraid. But your body seizes up nonetheless, whether from shock or anticipation or rage.

Your reaction doesn’t go unnoticed. “Let’s see if a sea serpent can convince you to write that letter.”

The man leaves, and you’re stuck here with your racing thoughts. Is he actually bringing in a sea serpent? Even if he is, what are the chances it’s the same one that killed him? What do you do if it is? You wish you could touch your ring, just for comfort, but your wrists are securely bound behind you.

Before long, you feel someone—something—approach you. And like a manifestation of the depths of your heart and mind, it speaks. He speaks.

“Fufufu… I was told that Prince Kalim’s betrothed wished to meet a sea serpent. I’m honoured.”

That’s Jade’s voice.

Jade is dead.

You gnash your teeth and squeeze your eyes shut, straining to tune it all out. The man from earlier said that he wouldn’t hurt you, but he lied. This is worse than hurting, worse than torture. Your heart is being ripped to shreds, all without laying a finger on you.

“What, are you a siren too?” you spit. “Take the voice of loved ones?”

The serpent doesn’t say anything. But you feel a gentle tug on your necklace and realize he’s grabbed your ring. You shriek.

“LET GO! Don’t touch that!” Thrashing violently against your restraints, you feel more like a rabid animal than a hostage.

He yields. “Are you… Where did you get that ring?” Jade’s voice asks quietly, gently as always.

“You have his voice,” you deflect, “you are the one that killed him, aren’t you?” Though you can’t feel your tears, you know you’re crying.

“Who,” he responds, “Jade?”

Your heart can’t take it anymore. You had sworn that you’d kill the sea serpent or die trying. But you hadn’t expected it to speak with Jade’s voice, to say Jade’s name. And that’s all it took to snuff out what was left of your fire. “Stop…” you gasp. “Please.”

You don’t have any fight left in you. You barely register the sack being pulled off your head, the rope around your wrists being untied; you don’t resist when the serpent takes hold of you and drags you off to who knows where.

Nor do you notice how gently the sea serpent holds you, or how he strokes your back in the same comforting way that Jade used to.

You must’ve fallen asleep, because when you open your eyes, you’re on land again. Barely. You’re on the sandy shore of some tropical desert island you’ve never seen before, the ocean lapping at your feet. It’s nice to feel the warm sun on your skin after being enveloped by the endless cold of the sea.

But you come to your senses quickly. You doubt you miraculously washed up on this shore. A quick scan of the ocean at your feet reveals what you’re looking for—or at least part of it—as something teal-coloured stands out against the sand.

It’s the sea serpent’s head. Its body is buried under the sand, but its head just barely sticks out beneath the water’s surface. It looks stupid.

For just a moment, you forget how much you want to kill the thing. “What on earth are you doing?”

You immediately regret your lapse in judgement when the serpent begins to emerge from the sand. Scrambling to get up and away from the water, you trip over your damned clothes and fall back down on your back, winding you.

“Those silks suit you,” the snake hums in Jade’s voice.

“Don’t patronize me,” you gasp, still winded and struggling with the excess fabric. Grounded and encumbered, you’ve resorted to crawling backwards in an awkward crab walk.

The serpent, fully unearthed, drags itself through the sand with its arms. “I do mean it,” it says smoothly, stopping once it’s within arms reach of you. It lifts its hand to its chest, a gesture so Jade it hurts to watch. “You’re beautiful as always.”

Something deep in you lurches.

”Shut—!” You lunge at the sea serpent, seizing its neck in your hands. You know you’re at a disadvantage here, in every sense of the word: you hardly have a grip on the slimy, slippery skin. The serpent could easily overpower you with sheer strength, bite your arm off with its razor-sharp teeth, shred you to pieces with its claws. But for whatever reason, it doesn’t.

Its skin is warm against yours, warmer than you’d expected. You pore over its face, take in its inhuman complexion, the dark markings across its cheeks, the black strand draped across the side of its face (so painfully familiar), the shape of its nose, its eyes. They look so much like Jade’s, down to the shape, to the colour, to the lovesick look in them.

It’s too much.

No.

It’s enough.

“Sea serpent,” you say, resolve crumbling but grip unyielding, “You’ll get your money. But I have three things to ask of you.”

“Of course,” the serpent says tenderly. “Anything.”

You take a breath, your eyes beginning to water. “Tell me that sea serpents don’t steal the faces and voices of humans.”

“They cannot,” it replies obediently. You take a shaky breath.

“Tell me you’re my Jade,” you choke out, pleading. “Tell me you never died to that sea serpent, you survived the shipwreck. Tell me so I believe it.”

“I am,” it he breathes, his eyes sparkling with wonder and affection. “I am your Jade. I’m alive. The Mostro wasn't attacked by a sea serpent, but by violent pirates. I managed to escape by hiding underwater.”

You loosen the chokehold, allowing yourself to lose yourself in the story he tells you. This is Jade, you convince yourself, not a sea serpent.

It’s Jade I’m holding in my hands, Jade who’s telling me a story, Jade who’s alive and well.

Not a sea serpent.

You close your eyes and smile, your tears now running down your cheeks, and keep them closed as Jade uses his knuckles to carefully wipe the tears away. “And your third request?”

“Kill me quickly,” you murmur, “while I still believe it.”

You feel him freeze. “...That, I cannot do.”

“Please,” you beg, blinking your eyes open. “You can still get your money! Just tell Kalim I’m still alive, that you’ll let me go if he pays—or just sell my jewellery! It’s worth more than I really am! I don’t—I can’t—!”

Desperate, you grab his hand and press his claws against your throat. Even through the blurriness of tears, you can see the shocked confusion in his eyes.

“I don’t want to live without him,” you sob, “please.”

Jade wrenches his hand from your grasp, to your dismay.

“Never ask me to hurt you.”

He wraps his arms around you and pulls you in, squeezing you with calming pressure, rubbing soothing lines up and down your back.

“You’re breaking my heart, my pearl,” Jade murmurs. “No amount of money is worth hurting you. How could you think such a thing?” You gently pull away from him.

When you set your eyes on his face again, his skin is human, and human ears flank his head instead of fins. And you gasp when you realize:

Holy shit.

He wasn’t lying.

This really is Jade.

And you begin to smile. You begin to chuckle. You begin to properly laugh, for the first time since Jade set sail on the Mostro so many moons ago. You continue to cry, because how could you not?

“It’s you,” you hiccup. “How?”

Jade rests his forehead against yours and wipes your tears again, with his fingertips this time. “Are you familiar with merpeople?”

“Not particularly,” you breathe.

“Merpeople can shift between sea forms and human forms,” Jade informs you. “I am an eel merman. You’ve seen both my forms now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Before you left?”

“I didn’t want to scare you away.” Jade closes his eyes. “I wasn’t ready to lose you, I suppose.”

You stay quiet, relishing his company.

Jade is the first to break the silence. “Azul had caught wind of the crown prince’s new engagement, and proposed that we claim the highly sought-after ransom money for ourselves while they’re unprotected at sea. Though I hadn’t expected you to be Prince Kalim’s betrothed,” he admits. “You’ve done well for yourself.”

“I guess it would be a pretty big shock, huh,” you chuckle. “It was so sudden. I had to leave the farm to Ace and Deuce of all people, that’s how scrambled I was.”

Jade smiles wistfully. “I’d always told you how you deserved to be treated like royalty. I suppose it’s about time you finally are.”

You shake your head. “I don’t want to be. I… I missed you so much,” you croak. “But you're here with me, and you’re alive, so I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Neither of you seems able to pull away from the other, too comfortable basking in each other’s presence and the golden light of the setting sun.

“Would you stay with me here for a night?” Jade whispers.

“Of course, Jade.”

You end up staying with him for more than a single night. Six, in fact. When you’re thirsty, you drink water from a small stream inland, and when you’re hungry, you pick fruit from the trees and Jade brings fish from the sea to cook. It’s paradise.

Today, you wake to the heavenly sight of Jade’s sleeping face, and for a moment you believe that you imagined all of this up. That this is just another one of your dreams of him, the ones so vivid that they read as nightmares once you’re lucid. After you breathe him in, however, you know it’s real. He’s real.

For the past few months before you set off on your expedition, every morning has begun with servants ripping open the blinds of your bedroom, stripping your blankets from their peaceful place over you, and rattling off your extensive itinerary for the day, all at the asscrack of dawn. And to top it off, you’ve had to suffer through it all alone.

But right now, you're in heaven. No servants, no itinerary, no Kalim, just Jade. Even your luxury bed sheets could never compare to being wrapped up in his warm embrace. The sun hasn’t even risen yet, but you couldn’t care less.

With Jade being an early riser, you’ve never had the privilege of seeing him like this. So you drink it all in, gratefully and greedily. The soft flutter of his lashes, the near-invisible flare of his nostrils as he breathes, the steady rise and fall of his chest upon which you lie. Him bare, aside from the makeshift cover-up you’d vengefully torn from the excess material of your outfit, you relish the feeling of his skin under yours, the warmth of it, the softness, the life.

You stare at him until the sun rises, until his image is burned in your eyes and brain. You’d stare for longer—forever—if you could, but he stirs; he’s awake now.

“Good morning, Jade,” you whisper.

“Good morning, my pearl,” he whispers back. His lips quirk into a perfect smile, and you feel your heart bursting at the seams. “You’re up before me.”

You pull yourself impossibly closer to him and snuggle into his chest. “I am.”

He chuckles and presses a kiss into your hair. “You should have woken me earlier.”

“Absolutely not. You’re way too adorable when you sleep,” you coo, breathing him in. “And I want this to last.”

This.

You and Jade together, here, now.

This is something both of you know can’t last forever. Not with the state of things as they currently are, not with Kalim inevitably searching for you, not with Jade pinned as a wanted man, or worse, as a sea serpent whom you vowed to kill.

This is an unspoken mutual understanding. And yet, neither of you dares to admit it aloud, to make it real.

So you stay like this, Jade supine on the sand, you comfortably atop him. Making this last as long as you possibly can. Minutes stretch into hours, and the sun eventually reaches its peak above you.

When Jade breaks the peace with a deep breath, you know this is coming to an end. You feel his muscles tense beneath you. “Your Highness.”

Your head snaps up at that, at the apathy in his voice, at that awful title, at how wrong it all sounds. “Jade, what—”

Jade sits up slowly, carefully, so as to not throw you off balance. “I think it’s about time,” he swallows, “I return you to your fiancé.”

“Would you stop that? You’re my—” You bite your tongue. Don’t finish that sentence, you tell yourself, don’t get stuck in the past. You search Jade’s expression for some semblance of comfort, but it betrays nothing.

Jade was your fiancé. Kalim is your fiancé.

“You aren’t mine anymore.” Jade’s voice is coached, steady. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he wasn’t affected. But you know he is. Even if he only cares half as much as you do, it’s more than enough to be excruciating.

“I am. I don’t love Kalim, you know that. Hell, he doesn't even love me! You know why I agreed to marry him in the first place?” You hold Jade’s face in your hands. “I wanted to hunt down the sea serpent that I thought killed you. He promised he’d help me if I married him.”

Jade stands up, away from your touch, and your heart breaks all over again. “My point still stands. You’re engaged to be married, Your Highness.”

“Stop calling me that, Jade. I’m not married,” you snap, standing too.

“You will be.”

“I’ll call it off! Stop being so weird!”

“You truly believe you’ll be allowed to break off your royal engagement to marry a merman with nary a sorcent to his name? You believe that you would want to marry a man with nothing?” Jade accuses. “You’re clever, you must realize that’s a terrible idea.”

“A ‘terrible idea’? To abandon the love of my life to marry a walking wallet? So I can live the rest of my days in pure misery? Is that what you think I want?” You’re losing your patience at Jade’s deluded logic. “You think I didn’t suffer every day without you?”

New worries eat away at the back of your mind, cutting your rant short.

“Do you regret proposing to me?” you breathe, humouring your darkest thoughts. “Is that why you’re trying to get rid of me?”

If that’s it, if he doesn’t love you anymore, if he only sees you as a burden now, then you’ll go. You’ll go back to Kalim, and never bother Jade again. You’ll let him live his life as he wants and—

“No.” Jade’s voice is firm. Truthful. “I would do it a million times over again. I could never regret it.”

“Then why?”

“You deserve better than me, my p—” Jade stops himself, restarts. “You deserve the best. The prince can provide that, and I cannot.”

“Are you listening to me? I only need you,” you declare, exasperated. “We can run away and live a quiet life together. Like before. We were happy, weren’t we?”

Jade smiles sadly, and it becomes apparent to you that his mind has already been made up. “We both know it isn’t that simple,” he murmurs, “not anymore.”

From a sack buried in the sand that you hadn’t noticed earlier, he pulls out a bottle with lavender-coloured liquid: the same that you’d been forced to drink before you were taken under the sea.

“I would rather not sedate you, but I unfortunately only have a blend of underwater breathing and sleeping potion on hand,” Jade explains, uncorking the vial. “So before I put you to sleep: please know that I wish you happiness, Your Highness.

“...and please forgive me for this last act of selfishness.” He takes a swig. Before you can even process his actions, let alone question them, Jade grabs your face and presses his lips to yours. Reciprocating quickly, you open your lips as he does, allowing him to push the potion into your mouth. You swallow it all and pull him closer by the neck, drinking away every last drop from his lips, until the only thing he can taste is you. He kisses you deeper.

You kiss each other more passionately than you ever have in your life: you, with all the love you lost in his absence, and him, like he’ll never kiss again.

Out of breath, you’re forced you to pull back, and you manage to pant out one last word before slipping into your potion-induced slumber:

“Forgiven.”

to be continued!

dividers from @/firefly-graphics :D

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shinameii · 5 months ago

Text

Double Trouble (Floyd x Reader)

Summary: A certain pair of twins are found roaming around NRC campus. No, not those ones. (AKA, Floyd and your kids come visit from the future.)

AN: This was supposed to be a cute short fic. Now it's 20 pages and three weeks later.

Warnings: Maybe a little ooc near the end. Kids and mentions of how they're made. AFAB Reader with she/her pronouns.

It was a pretty quiet day at NRC, which meant (Y/N) was waiting with bated breath for something to go terribly wrong.

“You worry too much!” Grim complained, hanging off her shoulder as they walked along the main thoroughfare past the Great Seven statues. “We finally have a day off! No work from Crowley, no problems with the dorms, no weird stuff popping out. And! Sam had that sale on canned tuna!” Grim pawed at the can he was holding, trying to rip open the pull tab on top. With a frustrated huff, he reluctantly handed it over.

(Y/N) quickly popped open the can and handed it back to him. Grim gave a small cry of delight as he buried his face in the shredded tuna. “I know, I know,” She said, absentmindedly scratching him behind the ears. “I think I’m just not used to it anymore. It feels like something should happen, you know? Like, they say right before lightning strikes you can feel the static in the air. And be honest, when was the last time we had a real day off?”

Grim looked up, licking his lips. “Well, last month we - no, wait, that’s when the fairies stole that magestone and had that fashion show. Oh, what about the weekend when we - no, that was Camp Vargas, huh? Uhh, Port Fest was really fun!”

“We were working at the food stalls the whole time.” (Y/N) grinned at her feline-type companion. “Or at least I was.”

Grim frowned. “Hey! Taste testing is an important part of selling food! You have to make sure your product is up to snuff!”

(Y/N) giggled and took the empty can from Grim, putting it in the plastic bag that held the other odds and ends they had picked up from the Mystery Shop. “Of course, we couldn't have done it without you.” She shielded her eyes from the sun, squinting to look up at the sky as if to double check it wasn’t about to start falling. “I just think that-”

“Mama!”

Both (Y/N) and Grim jumped, the latter falling off the former’s shoulder with a yelp to float in the air. (Y/N) blinked the white sunspots out of her vision looking around for where the exclamation had come from. No sooner had she started her search than a tiny force threw itself against her legs nearly knocking her over. (Y/N) looked down, seeing a wailing child bury his head into her hip, arms clasped around her in an iron-clad grip.

“Whoa, hey, hey!” (Y/N) said, trying to get her bearings. She pried the child’s grip away just enough for her to kneel down so they could be closer to eye level. The boy had a cherubic face, big eyes and big cheeks, with big tears rolling down them. He had teal-colored (your hair texture) hair. One of his teary eyes was a stormy gray while the other was (your eye color). A set of sharp almost shark-like teeth bit at his quivering bottom lip.

‘Do Jade and Floyd have a younger brother or something?’ (Y/N) thought.

She patted the boy's hair down and whipped the tears off his cheeks. He was taking big gulping breaths, trying to calm himself down. “Hey, it’s okay,” She said in what she hoped was a calming voice. “You’re okay. Did you get lost? This can be a big scary place, huh?”

The boy took another shuddering breath and flung himself in (Y/N)’s arms. She fell back, sitting roughly, as the boy buried his face in her shoulder.

“Geez, who the heck is this crybaby?” Grim muttered, floating nearby with his paws on his hips.

“Grim, don’t be rude!”

“He’s the one who ran into you! That’s rude!” Grim floated a little closer, cocking his head to look at the boy. “You know, he kinda looks like-”

“Ah!” (Y/N) yelped, pain suddenly rushing through her hand. She had been patting the boy’s hair, trying to help him calm down, when he suddenly turned his head and bit down hard. Jerking her hand back, (Y/N) could see a fresh set of indents forming a perfect semi-circle around the joint of her thumb, two of the points already beading with blood.

Grim immediately jumped to the defense. “Hey! What’s the big idea?”

The boy let out another wail, picking himself up and dashing away before (Y/N) could take another breath. “Hey, wait!” She called after him. “It’s okay! Come back!”

“Okay?!” Grim said as incredulously as he could manage. “He bit you! Look, you’re bleeding!”

(Y/N) whipped away the blood from her hand on her skirt. “He’s clearly just scared, Grim. It was probably just an instinct. Come on, we better find him before he gets into any trouble.”

Ignoring Grim’s grumblings, (Y/N) jogged off in the direction the boy had gone. She wondered why a kid so young would be alone in a place like this. He was, what, maybe seven or eight? Not to mention obviously terrified. And… Wait, had he called her mama? (Y/N) faltered a little when she remembered that. Maybe it was like when a kid called someone they were close to auntie or big sister? But why mama?

“Say that again and I’ll bite your fingers off!”

(Y/N) was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a child’s voice yelling some… pretty violent threats. She couldn’t imagine the small crying boy from before saying something like that. Was there another kid wandering campus? Was it a family visit day or something?

(Y/N) turned the corner to see the boy facing off against a group of students. Or, no, it wasn’t the same boy. Sure, he had the same round face, teal hair, and mismatched eyes, but he held himself in a completely different way. Instead of curling in on himself with fear, his shoulders were back, chin up in defiance, his sharp teeth pulled into a scowl, tiny fists balled with rage instead of anxiety.

(Y/N) didn’t want to believe it, but the students looked like they were getting ready to square up with a kid. Channeling into her de facto role of campus peacekeeper, she put herself between the kid and the students, saying, “Hey! What’s going on here?”

One of them jabbed his finger at the boy. “This kid came out of nowhere and started insulting us! Saying our magic was weak!”

“It is!” The boy said, peering around (Y/N)’s legs. “My papa’s the strongest guy at Night Raven College ever! He could take you all on at once! Tell ‘em, Mama!”

“Mama?” Another one of the students said. “Prefect, you know this kid?”

“Uh, not exactly, it’s kind of complicated. Look, he’s just a kid, he didn’t mean any harm. Let’s just all cool down for a second okay?”

Another student stepped forward, punching his fist into his open hand. “I think he needs to learn some manners. And if his ‘mama’ isn’t going to teach them to him, we will.”

Instinct kicked in and (Y/N) scooped the boy up in her arms. “Now, just hang on a second, you’re not really going to fight a kid, are you?”

“Yeah, I can take all you sea cucumbers on!” The boy shouted from her arms. “You look like a sea cucumber too, and their face is their butt!”

“That’s it!”

As the student advanced (Y/N) took a step back. Her arms full, her body reacted without thinking about it. Her leg flew up in a high kick, landing squarely in the approaching student’s face. His face bore a perfect shoe print as the young boy in her arms started cackling. (Y/N) took advantage of the momentary stunning and booked it out of there.

“Grim! Cover!” She yelled. Grim blew a spray of blue flames at the pursuing students, giving the new trio an opportunity to escape relatively unscathed.

(Y/N) sprinted through the halls, the boy clutched in her arms, Grim flying close behind them. Dodging into an empty classroom, (Y/N) took deep breaths as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. The boy leapt out of her arms, clapping his hands.

“That was so cool!” He exclaimed. “Uncle Grim was all like ‘Foosh!’ And Mama kicked like ‘bam!’ He had a footprint on his face! Did you see that, Mama? Did you see?”

(Y/N) held her hand up, trying to order her thoughts for a second before speaking to the overly excited boy. “I saw, I saw. Did you really just go up and start insulting those guys? They have to be twice your age, you could have gotten hurt!”

The boy pouted, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking away. “I know. I’m not supposed to start arguing with people. I’m sorry.” He recited the apology as if he had done it plenty of times before.

(Y/N) knelt down in front of him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Look, I just don’t want you getting hurt, okay? I know you’re probably really tough but you can’t blame me for worrying, you know?”

The boy grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. He threw himself into (Y/N)’s arms in a big hug. “I know. That’s why I have Papa and Mama! Nothing bad happens when you’re around! Oh!” He gasped as if suddenly remembering something. “Mama, have you seen Cas anywhere? We got split up! I need to be there to fight anyone who tries to mess with him!”

(Y/N) rubbed his hair. “What did we just say about fighting?”

Meanwhile, at the Monstro Lounge, Floyd was having one of his rough days. First, he had to break up a fight between a bunch of customers in the Lounge, which might have been fine normally, except they all cowered and begged forgiveness as soon as he got there, so we didn’t even get a chance to squeeze anyone. Then, Azul had started bothering him for his grades in his history of magic class. Like, yeah, it was easy and he could finish the homework no problem, but it was so boring! Why should he have to put effort into something like that, anyway? He was a great mage. Practical exams were a breeze. Why did the paper assignments even matter? Third, Jade kept talking his ear off about some rare new mushroom someone had sent him. Something about how it could let you see into the future, or bring stuff back from the past, or something. Floyd sort of zoned out in the middle of his brother’s explanation.

And, worst of all, he hadn’t seen his dear Shrimpy all day! Usually, on days off, he’d go track her down, making himself home at Ramshackle dorm, looming over her while she tried to study in the library until she finally paid attention to him and they could go do something fun, or dragging her to his basketball practice so he could show off. But he’d been stuck inside all day. He was starting to get stir crazy.

All he could think about was wrapping his arms around her soft, plush form and squeezing as hard as he could, until she gasped and made those cute sounds he liked.

Floyd giggled, kicking his feet. Maybe he could sneak out? Yeah, he could be sneaky when he wanted to! It couldn’t be that hard, right? He was already out of the Monstro Lounge, past the main entrance of the dorm. All he needed to do was go down the tunnel to the mirror chamber and-

“Well, hello there, Floyd.” Busted. Floyd grimaced, turning around to see Jade smiling at him, holding a huge stack of paperwork. “I was looking for you. Professor Trien gave me the assignments you’ve missed. He asked me to make sure you got these done before your next class. You don’t have anything else to do today, right?”

Floyd groaned, rolling his eyes. “Come on, Jade, I don’t want to do that! What’s even the point, huh? What’s some paper going to prove about casting spells?”

Jade gave a faux sympathetic look that Floyd could spot from 10 miles away. “Oh? So you did have plans today? Such a shame that you’ll have to cancel them, then.”

Floyd grit his teeth as Jade shoved the stack of papers into his arms. He briefly considered dropping them all and throwing a punch, if he didn’t know for a fact that Jade was one of the only people who could actually match him blow for blow. Floyd could count on one hand the amount of times they had physically fought with each other, but man, did no one ever suspect that the more calm and collected twin could be just as brutal.

Jade took Floyd by the elbow, not so gently leading him back into the main dorm, when Floyd froze, ears perking up at a sound.

Jade frowned. “Floyd, I said-”

“Shh!” He interrupted, putting a finger to his lips. Floyd cocked his head to the side, trying to hear that sound again. Suddenly, he shoved the papers back at Jade, bounding down the hall and taking the stairs two at a time down to the lobby.

The main lobby of the Octavinelle dorm took the same decor ques as the Monstro Lounge, or maybe it was the other way around. The lobby was seemingly empty, but Floyd was able to narrow in to the sound he had made out earlier, the hiccuping sound of a kid trying very hard not to cry.

Floyd stalked over to one of the couches, peering over. A small boy was huddled against the back of the couch, trying his hardest to make himself disappear.

“Hey, there, Guppy,” Floyd said, leaning over the back of the couch. “What’s with the sad eyes?”

Most children might have been frightened by the sight of a shark-toothed, manic eyed mer looming over them, the moody lighting on the lobby casting haunting shadows over his face. But the boy looked relieved, jumping on and over the couch to latch himself onto Floyd.

“Papa!” He wailed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I got lost and I couldn’t find Argo, and then I found Mama, but I had big feelings and I bit her! I know I’m not supposed to bite when I have big feelings, but I forgot and it was an accident! And then I ran away from Mama, and I know I shouldn’t have, and I still can’t find Argo, and-and-and-!”

Before he could say anything else, and before he had the chance to start crying again, Floyd scooped him up under the arms and brought him high in the air. “Wow, you have strong looking teeth!” He praised. “I bet you can bite real hard! Show me, show me!” Floyd flashed his own sharp-toothed grin, exaggerating gnashing down. The boy sniffled weekly before giving a half-smile. “Hey, come on, you know what I mean. We want a full smile, right, Guppy?” Floyd tossed the boy into the air, catching him and swinging him around so his legs flew out behind him. Despite himself, the boy started giggling. Floyd smiled, booping him on the nose. “There’s those teeth. Look how strong you are!”

The boy covered his mouth with his hands, trying to stifle his giggling. He made claws with his hands, baring his teeth. “Grr!”

Floyd gasped dramatically. “Oh no! This isn’t a guppy at all! It’s a shark! Jade, help me!” Floyd theatrically collapsed to the floor, making sure to keep the boy at arms length above him so he didn’t get hurt. The boy’s mood had fully switched now, laughing and holding his arms out so he could pretend to fly.

Jade stood in the doorway, smiling softly at his brother’s antics. But, more pressingly, wondering how a small child had found his way into Octavinelle in the first place. And, possibly, why he happened to have a certain family resemblance?

“Pardon me,” Jade said, stepping forward. “I couldn’t help hear you say ‘Papa?’”

“And then, I swung on this rope over the river, and it was probably, like a hundred feet high! And I let go and did a huge cannonball and it made the biggest splash ever!” The boy, (Y/N) had found out was named Argonaut, was regaling her and Grim with some pretty fantastical exploits from the last camping trip he and his brother Caspian had taken with their Uncle Jade. The name drops were getting much too specific, and (Y/N) still needed to find out what happened to Argo’s twin, so she decided a visit to Octavinelle was the best next thing to do.

“Wow, you did all that?” She asked. Argo walked beside her, holding her hand and swinging it back and forth in a large arc. “A hundred feet is pretty high. You must be brave.”

“The bravest!” He said with a big sharp-toothed smile. “Papa said I have to look out for Cas because he gets scared real easy. But he knows tons of stuff and he’s really smart, so that’s okay.” He frowned a little. “I can’t read really good, so Cas helps me out. That’s why we’re a team!”

“You sound like a very good team. We’ll find him soon, okay?” (Y/N) could tell Argo was worried about his brother. Even if he kept putting on a brave face, being lost in a big, strange place like NRC would put any kid on edge, not to mention that Argo had no idea how he or Cas got there in the first place.

“My tummy felt bubbly like when I had too much soda that one time and there was a big light and then I was here,” He had said when she asked.

‘More magic nonsense,’ (Y/N) thought to herself. She decided she was never getting used to it.

Stepping through the mirror to Octavinelle, the air temperature noticeably dropped at least ten degrees. The light took on the cool blue hue of the water surrounding the glass tunnels around the dorm. Its own little pocket dimension, or however the dorms actually worked, was like living inside an intricate aquarium full of coral reefs, darting fish, and cool temperatures to remind the largely mer-based population of home.

Stepping into the Mostro Lounge’s lobby, (Y/N) turned to Grim and said, “Okay, you stay here with him. I’m going to try and find-”

“Argo!”

“Cas!”

Argo sprinted away, colliding with his double in the middle of the Lounge floor, almost knocking a poor waiter off his feet. The two boys hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other for years instead of the better part of an hour. (Y/N) felt a pull on her heartstrings at their reunion.

“Cute,” She muttered. She took a step forward. “I-”

“Shrimpy!”

Before she could get another word out, (Y/N) was tackled in a bear hug. Floyd pinned her arms to her sides, picking her up and swinging her around. Behind the daze of dizziness and the feeling of her ribs creaking under pressure, she couldn’t help but compare her normal greeting from Floyd to the smaller twin’s reuniting.

“Urk, hello, Floyd. Good to see you too.”

“Aww, that’s all you got to say? With our kids here and everything?”

“With our- what?!” (Y/N) squirmed out of Floyd’s hold and stumbled back.

Floyd pulled the two careening boys close, beaming like a proud father. “Come on, Shrimpy, you met our little leptocephalus, right? I’m Papa and you’re Mama, right, boys?”

“Yeah, Mama,” Argo said, “Don’t be silly!”

“Argo,” Cas muttered, tugging his brother’s sleeve. “Something kinda weird happened, you know? Mama and Papa look different. I think this is where they met.”

“Yeah, Night Raven College, the best school in the world!” Argo threw his arms up in celebration. He turned back to Floyd and (Y/N). “Cas and I are gonna come here too when we get big. We’re going to be great mages just like Papa and Uncle Jade and Uncle Azul and Uncle Ace and Uncle Deuce and Uncle Grim and everyone!”

“Everyone, huh?” (Y/N) said, starting to feel dizzy.

Cas pouted at his brother. “That’s not what I mean, Argo.”

“He’s right!” Grim cut in, paws on his hips with a smug look on his face. “Since I am going to be the world’s greatest mage!”

Floyd poked Grim’s exposed tummy. “You were last on that list, seal.”

“Mrow!” Grim started flailing his paws at Floyd, who easily kept him at bay with one long arm pushing his head back.

“Ah, here’s where you all went.” Jade came up to the group. He was gently cradling one of his terrariums that had a strange-looking purple and silver mushroom with a dripping cap nestled inside.

“Hi, Uncle Jade!” Argo waved.

“Hello, nephew.”

“Is that one of your fancy mushrooms, Uncle Jade?” Cas asked, standing on his tiptoes to try and get a better look. Jade held it down so the twins could see. Cas’s eyes sparkled in fascination while Argo screwed up his face in displeasure.

“It is,” He said. “And I believe this is why you two came to visit us.”

“What do you mean?” (Y/N) asked, picking Grim up to rescue him from Floyd’s teasing.

Jade turned to his brother. “Floyd, do you recognize this?”

Floyd stuck his tongue out. “Bleh, yeah. You made that nasty tea from that mushroom the other day and tricked me into drinking it.”

“Tea?” (Y/N) asked. “Oh, was that the tea in the thermos you had the other day?” She frowned. “You tricked me into drinking it too, Floyd. You said it was tasty and so excited to share it with me, then laughed when I started choking on it because it was so bitter.”

Floyd had picked the boys up, holding one in each arm. “That’s because it’s funny when it’s you, Shrimpy.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Mmhmm, sure.”

“I apologize that you were roped into my experiment, (Y/N),” Jade said, not looking or sounding apologetic at all. “But I believe it led to an even more fascinating result than I could have hoped for. This,” He held up the terrarium. “Is an oracleum mycoculous, the fortune-telling mushroom. A very rare specimen a fellow mycologist friend of mine sent me from the Shaftlands. He knew I attended NRC and he asked me to study the effects of magic on this particular species.”

“A fortune-telling mushroom?” (Y/N) asked. “Like, if you cut an apple in half the shape of the seeds can tell your future?”

“It’s a bit more extreme than that. It’s rumored that when prepared in a certain way, eating an oracleum mycoculous can give one insight into future challenges, typically giving a person a strong intuition into choices they should make in the near future. My colleague had heard rumors that making a tea with the mushroom infused with magic could give the person who drinks it clearer visions of the future. I only intended for Floyd to drink it and record any dreams or premonitions he had, but if you drank it as well, Prefect,” he booped Cas on the nose, who giggled while intently studying the mushroom. “It would seem we were able to bring your future children from your future to our present.”

(Y/N) gulped hard, finally starting to accept what she had been suspecting this whole time. “Our children?” She squeaked.

Floyd nuzzled the two boys. “Aww, Shrimpy and I had little guppies!” He smiled wickedly. “How many tries do you think it took before we ended up with these fry?”

(Y/N) felt her face explode with heat. “Floyd! That - I mean - We’re not even together!”

“If I may,” Jade said. “The visions associated with the oracleum mycoculous are said to only be possibilities. It shows you options for possible futures depending on certain choices made. So perhaps your boys were drawn from one of these possible futures.”

(Y/N) felt dizzy at ‘your boys.’ “Okay, wait, hang on-”

“Mama, are you okay?” Cas asked. He reached out to her. (Y/N) felt a thud in her chest and took him from Floyd.

“I’m okay, Cas,” She said, trying to hide her anxiety from showing on her face. “Just a little confused, is all. I bet your actual parents are really worried about you.” She turned to Jade. “So, how do we fix this?”

He smiled slyly. “I have no idea. But wouldn’t it be fascinating to find out?”

“Absolutely not.”

The Leech family, plus (Y/N) and Grim, although, if the current children were to be believed, (Y/N) would be part of the Leech family in the future, stood in front of an annoyed-looking Professor Crewel in the alchemy classroom.

“Sorry?” (Y/N) asked.

“I absolutely do not approve of any relationship of this sort. Any pup of mine could do much better.”

“Aww, Beakfish,” Floyd pouted. “That’s no way to talk to your future son-in-law, is it?”

Crewel frowned deeper, his grip tightening on his teaching pointer that often doubled as a whip. He obviously didn’t approve of Floyd commenting on his pseudo-adoption of (Y/N). Although he had been in somewhat of a custody battle with Headmage Crowley in that regard. (Y/N) anticipated a negative reaction from her one father figure, but at least there was a higher chance Professor Crewel would be able to get something done in a timely manner, rather than the crow-coded Headmage dramatically lamenting without much work actually being done.

(Y/N) frowned, feeling her face heat up again. “Sir, we’re not actually together or anything…”

Floyd draped himself over her shoulders, trapping her in a backward hug. “Aww, my wifey Shrimpy is so mean to me. Why’s your Mama so mean, guppies?”

“Mama’s not mean!” Argo defended, taking one of her hands. “Mama’s the nicest! She lets me stay up past bedtime and eat tons of ice cream and watch PG-13 stuff on TV!”

(Y/N) looked down skeptically. “Do I really do that?”

He smiled slyly. “If I say it’s in the future then would you?”

“Nice try.”

“Grandpa,” Cas said, looking up at Crewel with big puppy eyes. “You’re going to help us get back to Mama and Papa, right?”

Crewel faltered. Not even he was totally immune to the child’s charms. He crossed his arms, huffing in feigned annoyance. “Well, of course we’ll get them home. But after we’re having a serious conversation about your future prospects, pup.”

“Like I said, we’re not even together,” (Y/N) protested weakly.

“Jade,” Crewel said, holding out his hand. “The oracleum mycoculous.”

Jade clutched the terrarium close to his chest. “But it’s my only sample. I made the other one into the tea that Floyd and (Y/N) drank.”

Crewel raised an eyebrow. “And we are in this situation because of that. I’ll have to use the mushroom to reverse-engineer an antidote to send these two back.” Jade reluctantly handed the mushroom over. “I’ll start research right away. Hopefully, we’ll get some answers soon. In the meantime, I’ll have to entrust these two in your care.”

“Not a problem,” (Y/N) said. “You guys can stay at Ramshackle with me and Uncle Grim.” (Y/N) caught herself, wondering when it had become so easy to refer to her friends as ‘Uncle’ as her theoretical future children did.

“Papa’s gonna come to, right?” Argo said.

“Absolutely not!” Crewel said, griping the terrarium so tightly (Y/N) was afraid it might break.

Floyd sniffed. “You’re going to tell me I can’t be with my children? You’re going to separate us?”

“You’re already on thin ice, don’t push your luck.”

“I’ll take care of it, Professor,” (Y/N) said before tempers could rise any further. “Thanks for helping us with this.”

“Of course, dear,” Crewel said, his tone softening. He cast a suspicious eye at Floyd, who was getting a bit too close to the alchemy ingredients along the walls, lifting the boys up high so they could get a better look. “Just let me know if you need any help.”

In the end, Floyd did end up staying at Ramshackle for the night. (Y/N) could hear the three Leech boys loudly playing in the living room while she tried to make something quick for dinner. Macaroni and cheese would probably work. Kids liked mac and cheese, right? Even if they were mer kids from the future. Or, half mer? (Y/N) wondered how that worked, specifically biologically speaking. Did the boys have mer forms like Floyd and Jade did? Did they look more human in some parts and more eel-like in others? It occurred to her that there was still so much basic mer and beast-man biology she had no idea about. But how do you ask that sort of thing without it being awkward about it?

“Mama!” Cas called, poking his head in the kitchen. “Can Argo and I go pick out our rooms?”

“I call the big one!” Argo yelled, sprinting past his brother up the stairs.

“Hey, don’t run inside!” (Y/N) warned.

“Yeah, and you can’t have the big one,” Cas scolded. “That’s Mama and Papa’s room.”

(Y/N) gulped. A sly smile stretched over Floyd’s face. “Yeah, where is our room? I should go unpack right?”

(Y/N) shook her head, trying to get rid of certain thoughts while organizing others. She clapped her hands together. “I know. Why don’t we build a pillow fort in the living room? It’ll be like a big sleepover.” She weakly kicked at Floyd’s shin, more out of show than real malice. “Because that’s all this is.”

“Like when there was that big storm!” Argo said, racing back down the stairs. “And the lights all went out and we had to stay away from the windows so we made that big tent in the middle of the kitchen!”

(Y/N) smiled fondly at a memory she hadn’t made yet. “Sure, like that.”

“I know where the biggest pillows are!” Grim called, racing up the stairs. The boys eagerly followed, making plans for their blanket fort that would stretch all across NRC campus.

Floyd sighed dramatically, draping his full body weight over (Y/N)’s back as she tried to stir the macaroni and cheese. “How’d we get so lucky, huh?” (Y/N) purposefully ignored him, something that didn’t slip Floyd’s attention. “They’ve got my looks, of course, handsome devils. Hey, do you think we live on land or in the sea? Ooh, or we could do both! Like a summer house! I bet I make a ton of money, I got to take care of you and the guppies, right? Aww, you’d be a cute little house wife. I’ll come home after work and you’ll say ‘Welcome home!’, I can’t do your voice too good, it’s higher than mine, you know? But you’ll say ‘Welcome home!’ and I’ll give you a big hug and say ‘I’m home!’ And I’ll bring you and the kids gifts and we’ll play games after dinner, and when they’re all tuckered out and in bed I’ll pick you up and go to our room and I’ll squeeze you real tight and say-”

“Floyd!” Floyd jumped at (Y/N)’s sudden exclamation. He felt her body tense and then sag in exhaustion. “Just… You shouldn’t say that kind of stuff, you know?”

Floyd blinked. “Huh? Why not, Shrimpy?”

“You know why.” She didn’t say anything after that. Floyd let the remark sit. After a minute of silence between them, listening to the cheering and shouting from the boys upstairs, (Y/N) finally sighed and said, “You shouldn’t say stuff like that to a girl. Not when you don’t mean it.”

Floyd chuckled feebly, his heart not in it. He felt torn between squeezing tighter and getting as far away from here as possible. “How do you know if I mean it or not?”

“Because you’re always like this. You’ve been like this since we’ve met, you’re like this with everyone. And you know-” She cut herself off. She seemed to be deliberating something serious and finally continued. “And you know how I feel about you.”

Floyd felt his mouth go dry, his heart started thumping a million miles an hour, and his stomach turned into knots. He had to say something. This was one of those moments where you had to say something, right? Of course he knew how she felt, it was pretty obvious to everyone how she felt, Floyd included. And the garden, especially what had happened at the garden. Or, rather, what hadn’t happened.

Now, had he taken advantage of that little fact over the school year to wring out some more entertainment out of the magicless Prefect? Well, yes, of course he had. Had he meant to have his own feelings grow into something he couldn’t manage over that time? No, but it had happened anyway, sneaking up on him and socking him in the heart like a mantis shrimp when he least expected it.

He tried to say it without saying it. He tried to show it without saying it. But why couldn’t he just say it?

“(Y/N),” Floyd started. “I-”

There was a crash from the living room, accompanied by a shriek and laughter.

“Papa!” Cas called. “We need help!”

Whatever seriousness had come over Floyd’s countenance disappeared in the blink of an eye. His signature wide grin cut across his face. If anyone was paying attention, they would notice his smile didn’t reach his eyes. He quickly reached over (Y/N)’s shoulder and stole a spoon, scooping a chunk of the mac and cheese from the pot to shove into his mouth before dashing out into the living room.

(Y/N) stuck her tongue out at his retreating form before turning back to the stove. As she slid the dish of mac and cheese into the oven to finish cooking, she paused. Had Floyd used her real name?

“Argo!” Cas whispered in the darkness.

A large quilt hung over their heads, precariously draped between several chairs. Pillows were stacked on all sides making soft walls and they had layered several duvets and couch cushions below to create an improvised mattress. Mama was on the couch, which served as the left-most barrier of their fort, the quilt draping down close to her head with Uncle Grim curled up on her lap. Papa lay sprawled between Cas and Argo, arms and legs out like a starfish.

“Argo, are you awake?” Cas asked again.

He heard his brother mumble something before his head popped up from the other side of their dad, hair flattened against one side of his head and sticking out in every direction on the other. “Wassup?” Argo said sleepily.

“Did you hear what Mama said with Grandpa Crewel?” Argo rubbed his eyes and shook his head. “She said she wasn’t dating Papa!”

Argo squinted at his brother in the darkness. “But they are. Mama and Papa said they started dating at Night Raven College.”

“But they’re not yet. Remember what Uncle Jade said? We’re only from one future. What if Mama and Papa don’t start dating in this future?”

It took Argo a second to register what Cas was suggesting. His eyes went wide and he gasped loudly. Cas shushed him and Papa mumbled in his sleep, finally turning over on his stomach without waking up.

“You mean we won’t exist?” Argo whispered, panicked. Cas nodded. “What do we do?”

Cas smiled. “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

The next day, amid a bright blue sky painted with thin wispy clouds, Floyd had insisted on visiting Heartslabyul to “Show off his guppies to his best friend, Goldfishy!” (Y/N) sarcastically predicted that this could only end well.

The group of five had, as anticipated, balked at the two visitors and their explanation for being there. But the boys had taken to seeing their pseudo-uncles like, well, like merboys to water. They were outside, near the rose garden maze. Argo was practicing some kind of gymnastics, holding Deuce’s hands tightly, walking up his stomach and chest to flip in a practice summersault. Cas munched happily on a cinnamon roll almost as big as his head while watching in fascination as Ace showed off some card tricks.

“Have you heard anything from Professor Crewel?” Trey asked, setting down a new plate of danishes on the table.

“Nothing yet,” (Y/N) said, taking a napkin and wiping off some smeared frosting from Cas’s face. “But I assume something like this will take some time to get right.”

“And you’re…” Trey waved his hand in a circle. “Doing alright?”

“I’m… Okay.” (Y/N) looked over at the boys now playing tag. “This isn’t the worst magic thing that’s happened since I’ve been here.”

“That doesn't mean it makes everything easy,” Riddle commented, gazing over the rim of his tea cup. “Especially given your… choice of partner.”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes. “I’m well aware. Floyd’s not too bad, though. He’s pretty good with kids.”

Riddle huffed. “Considering he basically is one himself I’m not entirely surprised.”

“Hmm? Are you talking about me, Goldfish?” Floyd said, appearing out of nowhere. He grasped the back of Riddle’s chair, pulling back so Riddle was thrown off balance, throwing his arms out to try and reestablish equilibrium. Riddle scowled, face turning red. He looked like he was going to say something, but bit his tongue as Cas and Argo ran up and started digging into the pastries. “It’s not nice to gossip about people.”

“Yeah,” Argo said, a mouth full of cherry danish. “It’s impolite. You’re the one telling us about manners all the time.”

“All the time?” Riddle asked.

“When you come over for dinner!” Cas chimed in. “You come over with Papa cause you work together and we all eat and you help me and Argo study!” Argo stuck out his tongue at the last part.

Riddle went from red to white. “We work together?”

“Yeah! You and Papa are best friends!”

(Y/N) was momentarily worried that Riddle was going to faint.

“And Uncle Ace and Uncle Deuce come over all the time! Uncle Deuce is going to teach me how to ride a blast cycle!” Argo said.

“We’ll revisit that later,” (Y/N) said, ruffling his hair.

“Can Uncle Trey still teach me how to bake?” Cas asked. “Uncle Cater was going to help me make a Magicam account to show off the stuff we make! Before Argo eats all of it.”

“Don’t be so good at baking and I won’t be so good at eating,” Argo replied, stuffing another danish in his mouth before darting off, Cas close behind him.

“I feel dizzy,” Riddle mumbled.

“Sounds like you’re keeping busy,” Ace said, watching Floyd duck around the hedges with the twins.

“When am I not?” (Y/N) said. “But at least it sounds like we’re all still close in the future. I like that.”

“It sounds like you don’t go home, though,” Cater said, mostly to himself. “Back to your world, I mean.”

(Y/N) hummed. “Maybe home is what you make of it.”

“Hey, Goldfishy?”

Riddle growned, shrugging off Floyd’s arm for leaning on him. “What is it, Floyd?”

Floyd was quiet for a moment, such a rare occurrence that Riddle looked up at him to make sure he had been heard. Floyd was looking out at the rose garden, watching the two children darting around bushes, chasing and being chased by Ace, Deuce, and Grim. (Y/N) stood nearby, watching with a serine look on her face, chiming in every once and a while to make sure the younger boys (and the older ones, too, let’s be honest) were being careful of their surroundings.

“You know about all that formal romantic stuff right?” Floyd finally asked.

“I don’t know about ‘romantic.’ What are you getting at?”

Floyd has a lazy smile on his face. “Do you know how to write a love letter?”

Riddle felt himself blush. “I’m not getting in the middle of whatever exploits you’re up to, romantic or otherwise.”

“Aw, come on,” Floyd said, poking Riddle’s check, causing Riddle to swat at him like a fly. “(Y/N)’s real nice, you know? She deserves something fancy. And I want-” It was rare that Floyd was at a loss for words. Riddle looked up at him, seeing determination and focus scrunch his brow as Floyd tried to choose his next words. “I guess I want to prove it to her. That I like her. That I really like her. That I-” Floyd groaned, letting his body go limp and dragging Riddle with him to crash to the lawn. “See? I’m not good at this kind of stuff! Help your best friend out!”

Riddle yelled, “If you weren’t so cavalier all the time, you’d be able to focus when you had to be serious!”

Ace stalked through the high hedges of the rose maze, having been called It in the boys’ game of hide-and-seek. “Better watch out,” He called in a sing-song voice. “Uncle Ace is going to find you!”

“Psst!” Ace whipped around, seeing Cas peeking out from behind a hedge, waving him over. He went over, seeing Cas, Argo, Deuce, and Jade sitting together, huddled under the shade of the maze. Argo had smuggled a few more pastries from breakfast and was tearing them apart to share with the group.

“Jade?” Ace asked. “What are you doing here?”

“My dear nephews called me,” He said.

“Papa let me borrow his phone!” Argo said, holding up the cell, smears of frosting covering the screen. “He doesn't know he let me borrow it, but I’ll give it back before he misses it.”

Cas put his hands on his hips. Ace had never seen a more serious looking eight-year-old. “That’s still stealing, Argo!” He huffed. “Whatever. We have something super important to talk about!”

“Yeah!” Argo chimed in. “We need to make sure Mama and Papa kiss!”

Deuce choked on his cinnamon roll. Jade tilted his head and smiled.

“Oya?” Jade said. “That’s quite the goal.”

“We want to get Mama and Papa together!” Cas clarified. “Because they’re in love and stuff! And we want to exist in the future!”

“I don’t know how much we should be messing with (Y/N)’s love life,” Deuce said. “It feels kind of invasive, you know?”

“Anyway,” Ace said, crossing his arms. “It’s Floyd’s fault anyway.”

“Is it?” Jade asked.

Ace gulped and scooted away a little before continuing. “Well, yeah. Come on, we all know (Y/N) likes Floyd, for some reason, whatever, that’s on her. If Floyd can’t string together 2+2 then that’s on him.”

“Floyd isn’t exactly subtle with his emotions, either,” Jade said. “He might have issues directing them to a specific conclusion, however.”

“So, you think he likes (Y/N), too?” Deuce asked.

“Undeniably.”

Ace rubbed the back of his neck. “You know, liking is one thing, but we are sort of talking about future marriage and kids here.” He nodded his head at the twins.

“But Mama and Papa are in love!” Cas insisted. “And the stories Mama tells us says true love conquers all!”

“That does sound like the sort of sappy thing (Y/N) would say,” Ace relented.

“I mean,” Deuce said. “We can’t really force anything, right? If they decide they want to get together that’s up to them. But,” He winked at Cas and Argo. “A little push couldn't hurt, right?”

“Great!” Cas said. “Phase one is complete! Now, we need recruits for phase two!”

It was Day 3 of having Argo and Cas at NRC. (Y/N) was fretting about what to do with the boys while she and Grimm went to class.

“I can skip class and stay here!” Grim volunteered.

“Absolutely not,” (Y/N). “Your grades need all the help they can get.” Floyd had offered to spend the day with the boys as well, when he had tried to worm his way into spending another night at Ramshackle. But (Y/N) had insisted he go sleep in his own bed at his own dorm. And it totally had nothing to do with the fact about how her heart had fluttered the morning after his first night there, when he’d woken up with a big yawn, hair a mess, and smiled lazily at her while wishing her a good morning. Nope. Absolutely not.

“We’ll be okay, Mama!” Cas promised. She had set him and Argo up at the kitchen table with a box of crayons and coloring books she had snagged from the Mystery Shop (Sam really did have everything in stock). “Argo and I will stay right here and not do anything sneaky!” Argo punched his brother’s shoulder. (Y/N) raised an eyebrow, even more nervous about leaving the boys in the large dilapidated dorm for an entire school day.

“Don’t worry about it, Prefect!” Phineas, Ezra, and Gus, the Ramshackle ghosts, said, materializing in the kitchen. “We’ll take care of them.”

(Y/N) sighed in relief. “Thank you, guys. Boys, you be good for the ghosts while Uncle Grim and I are away, okay?”

“Yes, Mama,” They both said dutifully. They listened intently for the sound of the front door closing before jumping up and smiling at the ghosts.

“Okay!” Argo said, clapping his hands. “Phase three of Operation Angelfish is a go!”

For once, everything seemed to be going as normal. (Y/N) and Grim went to classes, got an update on the return potion from Professor Crewel (Just waiting for it to reduce to a concentrated form), had lunch, went to gym, nothing out of the ordinary. Which, as previously established, put (Y/N) on edge.

Everything seemed to be normal. Too normal, as far as (Y/N) was concerned. If she didn’t know better (and she did) it would seem like her friends were going out of their way to make it seem like nothing important was going on. There had been at least three times already where (Y/N) had walked up to a group, only for them to immediately stop talking, or very obviously switch topics, all while casting side-eyes at each other. She also couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t seen Floyd all day. Well, maybe out of the corner of her eye, or hearing his voice, but it was always cut off, he was pulled away by his brother, or one of her friends suddenly desperately needed her over there right this second.

She tried not to take this as some kind of commentary on the possible future relationship the two out of place children suggested. It wasn’t really that bad, was it? Her having feelings for Floyd? She knew Ace, Deuce, and Grim were pretty shocked when she had first confided in them. (“I think I like Floyd. Thought?” “And prayers.”) And while no one had ever said anything explicitly negative, besides the occasional teasing or complaining about her crush, there wasn’t anything actually encouraging either. (Y/N) knew she let Floyd get away with way too much most of the time, and only after interacting realized how moon-eyed she’d been acting. Half the time she thought Floyd might return her feelings, and the other half felt like he was taking advantage of her swayed good graces. It made her head spin and chest ache.

And now, with Cas and Argo appearing out of nowhere? Saying that they were married in some possible future? Happily married with children? The picture the boys painted was idyllic. The kind of thing (Y/N) had only seen in magazines or at the end of some Jane Austen novel. (Y/N) felt herself blush every time she thought about it, whether it was out of embarrassment or longing, she wasn’t sure. Dinners together, people from NRC coming to visit all the time, (Y/N) bringing traditional holidays from her world to celebrate, a beautiful house by the Coral Sea where the boys would learn to swim in their human and mer forms.

Was there a lingering darkness in the back of her mind that told her this meant she would never go back to her own world again? Sure, of course. Was there a nagging that this was only a possibility, and her own future still had a chance of being completely different? Yes, definitely.

Did that stop her from planning how exactly she would formally confess to Floyd once she made sure Cas and Argo got home safely? Not a chance.

Finally, it was the end of the day. (Y/N) was already planning in her head what to make for dinner when she heard someone call her name. Well, sort of her name.

“Child of man,” Malleus called, raising a hand in greeting from the quad.

“Oh, Horton,” She said, jogging over to him. “Hi, I don’t usually see you around now. How are you?”

Malleus puffed up with pride, a self-satisfied smile on his face. “I’ve been recruited.”

“Recruited?”

“By my future nephews. I’m meant to distract you.”

“Future-? Ah, I see.” (Y/N) had an adorable image flash in her mind of the twins and their doting Uncle Horton. “Any particular reason I’m being distracted?”

“I’m not meant to say.”

If they had managed to wrap Malleus into whatever they were doing, (Y/N) thought it couldn’t do that much harm. Why not let the boys have fun while they were still in the past? But just to be sure…

“Grim, you’ll make sure the house doesn't burn down while I’m gone, right?”

Grim saluted, giving a conspiratorial nod at Malleus before flying away.

Malleus offered his arm which (Y/N) took while they strolled away. “Should I be worried about what you’re all planning?” She asked.

He hummed. “Not at all. Now, have I ever told you about the controversy surrounding bat-styled gargoyles versus griffin-styled gargoyles in 15th century cathedral architecture?”

Floyd was mad. Actually mad. Sure he got annoyed or frustrated every once and awhile, but actually angry? That was a rarity that no one wanted to witness.

Not only had Shrimpy not let him stay the night at her dorm again, which, fine, it was her house, but he’d been trying to see her all day to no avail. Either someone would pull her away, Jade would appear out of nowhere and stall him until she was gone, or they’d just keep missing each other. It would have been one thing if circumstances kept them apart, coincidences were coincidental after all, and it’s not like they had never gone a day without seeing each other. But this was intentional, pointed and deliberate. He was in a Shrimpy drought and the people around him were building a dam.

And he couldn’t find his phone anywhere.

Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore. His skin felt too tight and all the lights were too bright and he wanted to scream. He cut his last few classes and returned to Octavinelle. He had already started tearing off his jacket and shirt as he walked through the mirror portal, leaving clothing in a scattered trail as he marched his way to the decompression chambers that let out into the surrounding water around the dorm. He jumped into the water, the icy chill shocking his human system. He felt his muscles stretch and a comforting pressure encase his body as he shifted back to his mer-eel form, legs melding together as one as he whipped through the water. He shot through the water, scattering fish as he went. He didn’t have the patience to play with any of them today. He was finding he didn’t have the patience for a lot of things.

She’d try to tell him, once, that she liked him. That maybe she loved him, or that could have been him projecting. (Oh, dear Seven, did he love her?) She’d asked him to meet him in the gardens after school. She said she’d been thinking a lot and there was something extremely important she needed to tell him. He’d poked her, saying she should just tell him now, in the passing period between classes surrounded by curious and eavesdropping classmates. She’d said no, that she still needed to get her thoughts in order. She’d written a letter, she said, that she was holding firmly in her hands, but she thought he would appreciate a more direct approach. So. Garden. After school. She’d be waiting. And then the bell had rung and she’d run off.

And he’d left her waiting.

He hadn’t shown up. He’d heard later that she’d been there so long the grounds keepers had to ask her to leave so they could lock up the bio-dome at night. He’d seen her the next morning, eyes red and puffy, huddled with her first year friends who were speaking in low, comforting tones, trying to be affectionate and reassuring in that awkward way teenage boys did. And he had waltzed right over, picking her up and spinning her around. And she hadn’t mentioned the garden. She hadn’t mentioned the letter. She never mentioned any of it again. They fell back into their old rhythm, the one Floyd knew, the one he was comfortable with, the one he could predict.

He should have gone to the garden.

Why the hell hadn’t he gone to the garden?

Floyd burrowed into a reef section of a shallow, tearing at floating kelp with his claws and snapping jaws. He was trashing and writhing, kicking up the loose sand so it created a hazy cloud around him. The sand started getting in his mouth and eyes but he didn’t care. He welcomed the sting of it.

Argo and Cas being here meant everything was okay, right? If they had kids in the future, it meant everything worked out, right?

Floyd was mad. He was angry.

And he didn’t understand why.

“Floyd!” Floyd looked up, seeing Jade swimming towards him.

He scowled, turning away to focus on wreaking havoc on the underwater flora. “Not now,” He said through gritted teeth.

“Floyd, this isn’t the time-” Jade tried to reach out and touch his brother. Before he could make contact, Floyd whipped around with a snarl, swiping at Jade with his sharp claws.Jade quickly jerked out of the way, his surprise quickly melting to aggravation. Jade surged forward, catching Floyd around the stomach and tackling him to the sea floor. Floyd gnashed his teeth, clawing at Jade’s back. “What exactly do you think you’re going to accomplish here?”

“Get off!” Floyd writhed, wrapping his tail around Jade and spinning to loosen his brother’s grip. Momentarily free, Floyd took the opportunity to lunge at Jade again.

A fight, good. This is exactly what he needed. He needed to do something physical, something violent, something to get his mind out of whatever stoop he was stuck in, something so he didn’t have to focus on how bad he felt, something where the outcome could be predictable and certain, even if the certainty was pain. That was better than not knowing. That was better than letting feelings he couldn’t control take over his mind.

He and Jade wrestled, throwing each other into the sand, striking with teeth and claws, whipping with their tails. They didn’t cast any spells, which is the only way each twin was able to understand the severity of their fight, even if it was a subconscious understanding. Fighting was one thing, using magic against each other was another.

Finally, the two faced off, gills heaving with underwater breaths, scratches and gouges bleeding, eyes locked. Jade pushed back a little, careful not to make any sudden movements.

“Do you really think this is the best use of your time right now?” He asked.

Floyd snapped his teeth. “Who asked you? What do you know about anything, anyway?”

“I know (Y/N) tried to confess to you.”

Floyd froze, then felt another surge of anger bubble under his skin. Why did Jade know? What right did he have to know (Y/N)’s inner thoughts when Floyd himself couldn’t even have them?

“She told me,” Jade continued. “Or, I gathered from context clues. She asked if you had ever dated anyone back home, what sort of person you liked. She wanted to know if you prefer meeting in person to discuss important things or if she should leave a letter. Not that she really needed to discuss much. I would say it’s been rather obvious to anyone paying attention for the last few months. The real issue, I find, is why you haven’t confessed yourself.”

Floyd yelled, grappling Jade and sinking his teeth into his shoulder. Jade bit his lip to keep from crying out. He took advantage of the grapple to twist and pull Floyd into a headlock.

“I went there,” Jade continued through gritted teeth. “I went to the garden. I was planning on spying, I thought it’d be fun. But you never showed up. I kept waiting, and so did she, and you never appeared. Why in all of the deep blue sea didn’t you come?”

“I don’t know!” Floyd confessed. He went limp in Jade’s grasp, all the fight going out of him. He let out a choked cry, something Jade hadn’t heard from his brother in who knows how long. “I don’t know, I don’t know!”

Floyd sank to the rocky coral outcropping, collapsing. Jade observed him for a moment. He swam down, curling up next to Floyd.

“She still has feelings for you, you know.”

Floyd groaned deep in his chest. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

“Can’t tell her. I can’t hear her say it. What happens after that, huh? What happens after we both say it?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s the problem! How do I know what to do? Do I change, does she? And what if neither of us do? I can’t risk it, I can’t lose her!”

“You’re losing her anyway.”

Floyd felt his anger flash again and lashed out with a claw which Jade easily dodged. The fight drained out of him again and he flopped back down.

Jade regarded Floyd. When he determined that Floyd wasn’t about to fly off the handle again, he came closer. “Don’t you think it’s selfish, keeping your feelings all to yourself?”

“Eels are cowards,” Floyd mumbled.

“But humans are brave.” Floyd peaked up at Jade. “They can’t survive long in water, they don’t have the heightened senses of beastmean, nor the longevity of fairies. They don’t have claws or teeth or endless magic supplies. But they’re brave and stubborn. That’s how they’ve lasted so long, become such a force in the world. And there’s a certain human we know that is exemplary in that regard.”

Floyd hummed. “She’s amazing. She’s pretty and smart and clever and strong and… What if I mess up, Jade?”

Jade patted Floyd’s back. “Then I’m sure she’ll let you know and you’ll figure it out together. Relationships require two people, after all.”

“You think she’ll forgive me? From before?”

“If you apologize, I’m sure she will. And, brother dear, I have the perfect setting for such an apology. Come on, we need to get you fitted with your suit. And maybe some stitches there above your eye.”

“Ow!” (Y/N) cried as she banged her shin for the third time.

“Sorry, Mama!” Argo said, pulling her hand to maneuver her around the low table.

“It’s fine. Are you sure I have to keep this blindfold on?” She reached up for it.

“No!” Cas gasped. “It’s a surprise!”

(Y/N) sighed and let herself be pulled along, gritting her teeth when she stubbed her toe on the side of a chair.

After Malleus had brought her back to Ramshackle after their walk and gargoyle lecture, she had immediately been set upon by the boys who kept insisting that she absolutely not look anywhere near the backyard. Almost immediately after walking in the door, Vil appeared seemingly out of nowhere and shoved a garment bag in her hands. The dress was beautiful, of course, and probably worth more than she could ever afford, in her old world or this one. It seemed like almost everyone she knew was bustling around the dorm, being extremely secretive. Finally, her boys had come to get her, giving her a blindfold to wear and gingerly escorting her down stairs.

‘Her boys.’ When exactly had she started thinking of them like that?

(Y/N) felt a cool breeze as she stepped outside. She could feel the boys walking her up the hill in the backyard, stopping suddenly.

“Okay, Mama,” Cas said, his voice bubbling with excitement. “You can look now!”

(Y/N) removed the blindfold and gasped at what she saw. The large oak tree in the back dripped with tiny string lights and paper lanterns. Fireflies gently bobbed around in the oncoming twilight. A small table, (Y/N) recognized it from the Heartslabyul rose garden, had been set up underneath the glowing bows, decorated with a candelabra.

“Oh, boys,” (Y/N) said, taking each of their hands. “This is beautiful. Is this what you’ve been up to all day?”

“Mostly!” Argo said.

“Yup, now it’s phase 4!” Cas said.

“Phase 4?” (Y/N) asked. The boys just dragged her over to the table and pulled out the chair for her. They made to rush away before Argo hastily corrected himself and pulled out a wireless speaker from behind the tree trunk. He took out what suspiciously looked like Floyd’s phone, sinking it up to the speaker. Soon, it began to play a string quartet. Argo smiled triumphantly, he and Cas taking hands and rushing back to the dorm.

(Y/N) smoothed her dress and sat down, watching the fireflies and sunset with the calming music in the background. There was a tea set on the table and she poured a cup. She paused for a moment before filling up the cup across from her as well. As she sipped the tea, she saw the silhouettes of Cas and Argo dragged someone around the side of the dorm. In the low light, she couldn’t exactly tell who it was, but based on the lanky form and fond body language, she guessed it was Floyd. She sighed inwardly, half excited to see him and half dreading it, especially in such a romantic location. So this way the boys’ real plan. She wasn’t sure exactly how to feel about that.

She stood up as Floyd came closer, stepping into the circle of light around the tree, ready to disperse whatever plot the boys had set up, before gasping. “Floyd! What happened?” Although Floyd was wearing a nice suit and tie, he had a black eye, a split lip, and a cut above one of his eyebrows that looked like it had been hastily patched with stitches. She rushed to him, her hands hovering around him. “Are you okay? Should we go to the infirmary? Who did those stitches - why do you have stitches!” She frowned. “Honestly, I keep telling you to stop getting into fights! One day you’re going to fight someone stronger than you and then where will we be? Look at you, you’re still bleeding!”

Floyd only grinned, leaning down so his forehead touched hers. “Shrimpy’s worried about me.”

She weakly pushed him off. “Of course I’m worried. Gosh, did the boys see you like this?”

Before she could take a step away, he wrapped his arms around her, crushing her in a tight hug. “I like when you’re worried about me.”

“Is that why you keep doing stupid stuff?”

Floyd hummed. “Maybe. If it makes you pay attention to me, then it’s worth it, right?”

(Y/N) didn’t know how to reply. She felt heat building up in her checks, a mixture of embarrassment and longing and something else she couldn’t quite place.

“Floyd, I-” “I like you, (Y/N).” She froze at his words. “I couldn’t say it before. I mean, I could, but I didn’t. And that’s my fault. It was bad, I was bad, I still am bad. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I just - You’re so much of everything. And I want that everything. I want us to share it, forever. I want to see you all the time because you make me so happy and I want to make you just as happy. I think we can be, together. I promise I’ll try, really hard. And I-” Floyd sniffed as (Y/N) pulled back. His face was flushed, tears dotting his lashes. He was trying to keep up his usual confidant grin, but it crumpled at the edges. “I’m sorry, Shrimpy. I’m so sorry I hurt you, that I acted like nothing was wrong, that nothing happened. I love you, you know that right? You know it now. I love you.”

“Oh, Floyd,” She muttered, brushing his hair away from his face. “If I kiss you now, is your lip going to start bleeding again?”

Floyd broke out into a real smile, letting out a choked laugh. He crushed (Y/N) to him, picking her up and spinning her around. He peppered kisses on her face while she giggled too. She took his face in her hands, gently lowering him closer and kissing him.

Back at the dorm, spying out the windows, Cas and Argo high fived.

The next morning was bright and sunny and (Y/N) couldn’t help but think it was all for her.

Cas and Argo were making their rounds in the quad, saying goodbye to their uncles, many of whom grew misty eyed and the imminent departure. Floyd was squeezing her hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

“Alright, pups, everyone settle down,” Professor Crewel called, waving everyone over. He took out a paper bag and shook out two dark purple oval candies, handing one to each boy. “Here, this will get you back to your time in the blink of an eye.” He patted each of their heads. “Be good, pups.”

The two took the candies and rushed over to Floyd and (Y/N). Floyd crouched down and picked each boy one at a time, throwing them in the air and catching them before repeating with the other. (Y/N) pulled them both into a tight hug, kissing the tops of their heads.

“I can’t wait to meet you boys for the first time,” She said.

“We’ll see you soon, Mama!” Argo said.

“Mama,” Cas said. “You’re going to take care of Papa, right?”

(Y/N) laughed as Floyd frowned. “Hey, shouldn't I be the one taking care of Mama?”

Cas frowned, a perfect mirror of his father. “Only kinda. Mama’s the one who does all the taking care of.”

“Well, when you get home, tell your Papa and he promised you ice cream.”

(Y/N) quickly whipped away the tears that were forming in her eyes. She cleared her throat to try and speak without faltering. “Speaking of, I’m sure your Mama and Papa are worried about you. I think it’s time to head off. But one more hug.” They crashed back into her open arms. Floyd threw his arms around all of them, squeezing tight.

Finally, the Cas and Argo each took the others hand, popping the candy in their mouth. Cas screwed up his face and Argo stuck out his tongue at the bitter taste of it. (Y/N) couldn’t help but laugh, comparing their reaction to hers when Floyd had first gotten her to drink the oracleum mycoculous tea. It seemed there was no good way to mask that taste.

Before their eyes, the twins started to fade out, as if they had been projections. They stared in fascination at their disappearing bodies. They looked up and waved and everyone waved back. Eventually, they slipped out of view. The group waited another moment, giving some sort of solemn respect to the family they would meet again in the future before dispersing.

“So,” Floyd, leaning down to speak quietly to (Y/N). “You never did answer me, Shrimpy.”

“Answer what?”

He grinned deviously and (Y/N) immediately regretted asking. “How many times you think it took before we got them.”

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